He is up in arms that two of the parks in his ward are housing soccer leagues all day, every Sunday until the fall.

“It’s not fair to the children who live there and they can’t use the park,” the South Ward councilman said. “People pay taxes there all year for the children to go to the park and they’re shut down. They can’t go to a park.”

The Liga Deportiva The Brothers, which operates out of John Beech Park runs 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. every Sunday 8 a.m. from April 7 until Sept. 18. The Liga Deportiva Virgen del Cisne is played at Chestnut Park from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. every Sunday from April 7 until Nov. 24.

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In addition to the leagues having a hold on the parks due to permits taken out with the city, Muschal said the players are shedding their clothes down to the jock strap.

Muschal said the same concerns were raised last year, but nothing was done.

One of the league organizers, however, is telling a different story.

Fredy Niola of the Liga Deportiva The Brothers, which plays at John Beech Park, said he doesn’t use the whole park.

“The kids play there all the time,” the city resident said, adding his league only uses a cement space in the park for the games. “Every Sunday, I see there is a lot of people there not for us. I want to share.”

His permit with the city allows 50 to 100 people, but Niola said at most 40 people are there at a time. Games run hourly for the six-on-six matches.

“They play and they leave,” he said of the players in their 20s and 30s. “They don’t have alcohol, they’re not drinking beer and they’re not fighting.”

But neighbors of both parks say the early start times is causing a loss of sleep on a day where Americans typically sleep in.

“Nobody can sleep in this neighborhood,” former city Councilman John Cipriano said of the games that start at 8 a.m. at John Park, which his house backs up to. “The kids can’t even go to the playground because there’s no room for the kids to play.”

Cipriano said microphones are used, music is played and a lot of people show up.

“It’s a neighborhood playground,” he said. “It doesn’t lend itself to that type of activity.”

What doesn’t bother him is the basketball players.

“The guys that play basketball are perfect gentleman,” Cipriano said. “They play on a Sunday morning afternoon you don’t even know they’re there. I’ll take the basketball, but I won’t take the soccer.”

Niola said, however, if it wasn’t for the soccer players, the park wouldn’t get cleaned.

He showed a Trentonian reporter a video he took this past Sunday of the park before and after he left.

When he arrived plastic bottles, beer bottles, candy wrappers and bags of trash were present.

“The people should be happy because I clean the park,” Niola said of the garbage he removed. “I’m keeping the park like my house.”

He also rents a portable toilet at the park because there is no bathroom, which costs him roughly $450.

In addition to the trash, Niola’s video shows children playing in other areas of the park while the games are taking place.

The organizer, who pays approximately $2,800 to rent the space, admitted to playing music, but said he hasn’t played it since he was contacted by the city.

“I apologize, I’m not going to use that anymore,” he said.

Niola, who says he runs the league to be friendly and not make a profit, also claims his players don’t change at the park.

“People play basketball without shirts,” he said. “That’s not my people.”

Muschal claims Niola only made the video after the complaints started coming in and that Niola previously admitted to changing publicly in a conference call with the city.

The other league, Liga Deportiva Virgen del Cisne, plays at Chestnut Park on a refurbished tennis court that was turned into a soccer court.

The league’s permit allows for 50 to 100 people, but one resident who lives near the park says in excess of 150 to 200 people are showing up.

“The whole neighborhood is outraged,” said the resident who wished to remain anonymous. “That’s just way too much for that little area.”

He said the league has gone on for four years and it’s gotten increasingly larger and out of hand.

In addition to the noise and power cords running across the street, the resident said parking is at a premium.

“When we leave to go to a store on Sunday morning early, we have to do the snow thing where you put your bucket out and save your parking spot,” he said. “You come back within a half hour there are no parking spaces.”

He also has witnessed sightings of protective gear worn by men.

“They’re out there in their jockstraps,” the resident said. “They’re not offending me, but there are a lot of women and children around here.”

The two residents who live near the parks hope the city could find a better place to host the soccer leagues like Cadwalader Park.

“I don’t begrudge this group for wanting an outlet to do something, but I just think there is a better place to do it,” the Chestnut Park resident

In an email, Mayor Tony F. Mack’s aide Anthony Roberts said the recreation department has met with Muschal related to his concerns about the park usage and after that the issues were addressed with the permit holders.

“Changes were made and since then we have received no complaints from residents or Councilman Muschal,” Roberts stated Thursday night. “It is also important to point out that our current policies allow for residents, organizations, and/or athletic leagues to use city parks and facilities for various purposes.”

Roberts said if any of those entities request a park that has no prior bookings, then the city is obligated to provide them that park.

“It is not our policy to establish arbitrary barriers to City parks,” he said. “In a city of 84,000 residents with under 80 parks and recreational areas there are bound to be concerns about usage of public land. The Department of Recreation, Natural Resources, & Culture will continue to do its best to meet the needs of all those interested in using public land for recreational or cultural purposes.”

About the Author

Originally from Webster, N.Y., David has been a reporter in N.J. for the past three years (first in Phillipsburg and now in Trenton).He is a Temple alum who interned at the Philadelphia Daily News. Reach the author at dfoster@trentonian.com
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